About

Rasuwa Relief exists to provide post-earthquake relief in both the immediate and long term to villages across Rasuwa – a district of Nepal’s Central Development Region that is both severely affected by the 25 April 2015 earthquake and currently underserved by the aid community. This relief includes: direct humanitarian assistance for communities severely affected by the earthquake and subsequent avalanches, landslides, etc.; expert consultation on location designations for structural rebuilding efforts; and ongoing collaborative support for the durable reconstruction of villages and human security for communities throughout Rasuwa. To effectively and equitably support both short and long-term assistance to communities across the district, Rasuwa Relief will provide initial humanitarian relief at the rate of 33% to villages in the Langtang Valley and 67% to communities in other areas of Rasuwa, particularly the parts of Upper Rasuwa currently inaccessible. To bridge the gap between current and long-term needs, Rasuwa Relief will allocate 30-40% of resources for immediate disaster relief (depending on needs) and then the remaining funds will be dedicated toward long-term reconstruction in places like Langtang village. Overall, our efforts will be oriented towards both immediate triage and long-term spatial equity, towards combating persistent forms of socio-spatial exclusion, and towards facilitating a consistent flow of funds over time to support longer-term relief efforts.

Our principal team members have collectively spent years conducting ethnographic research in Rasuwa, and thus have significant knowledge of the sociocultural, economic, and political landscape – as well as a network of contacts that will help greatly in insuring both the effective delivery of goods and participation. Our team has also been trained in anthropology, geography, development management, international affairs, natural resource management, economics, cartography, and engineering – giving us a blended set of skills and resources with which to help. Further, many of us were in Rasuwa at the time of the earthquake on April 25th, and we have since made significant efforts to help the people of the region. We do not imagine ourselves as development professionals or agents of disaster relief, but given our experience in the area and the situation around us, and the lack of focused attention on Rasuwa, we find ourselves compelled to act.